The beautiful black swallowtail butterfly is a common visitor to wildflower gardens this time of year and is the state butterfly of Delaware.
Papilio polyxenes is its scientific name. Pailio is Latin for butterfly, and polyxenes comes from Greek mythology, as it was the name of the youngest daughter of Priamos, the king of Troy.
This butterfly is found east of the Rocky Mountains and prefers fields, parks and gardens. It has a wingspan of about 2.5-3.3 inches. The females are larger than the males…